Starbase Jeff

"You need money to play."

Starbase Jeff is a card game. It's not a collectible card game, because everybody has exactly the same deck, just shuffled differently. It's not a playing-card game, because, well, they're not playing cards. However, Jim Geldmacher and James Ernest do an admirable job of meshing the two.

You see, Jeff Tuttle was turned from a humble shareware programmer into the manager of a deep-space construction firm. He's interested in making money - big money. He wants to create starbases as large as major cities. And he wants you to build them.

Starbase Jeff is a game for two to four players. Each player takes a deck of cards - twenty cards to a deck, each deck a different color - and shuffles it thoroughly. Each player also starts out with some money. (This can be represented with poker chips, board game money, tallies on paper, or what have you. The designers "strongly recommend that you don't play for real money. Furthermore, we strongly don't suggest a ratio of a nickel for every credit.") The object of the game is to make the most money, you see.

Players draw hands of five cards from their decks. Then, each turn, each player plays a card from his or her hand. Cards are played according to rank, and each card has a different rank. There's also a building cost associated with each card, which the player must pay when playing the card; additionally, pieces of the starbase have different numbers of directions to which they can connect to other pieces, and if the player can't connect his piece of the station to another of his pieces directly, he must pay each of the players in-between one credit for each piece of theirs he has to pass through to build his piece.

Oh, and you get bombs, too. These take precedence over any other card, and blow up a piece of your choice.

The game ends when someone runs out of money, at which point the person who has the most money wins; or, when someone closes off the station (i.e. no more pieces can be connected), at which point the player who closed it off takes the pot (into which building fees are paid), and then the person with the most money wins.

The Verdict

Starbase Jeff is a lot of fun, and due to its small size it's immensely portable - you can play while you're waiting for your food at a restaurant, or in the backseat of a car (assuming the seat is large enough). It's a lot like poker - you have to know what to play and when to play it - and a lot like chess - in that you have to think through several moves at a time.

Plus, it's a Cheapass Game, and that's just fun to say.

If you want in-depth characterization and massive storylines in every game you play, this game isn't for you. If you don't - then it probably is.